"It's a great win," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "To come out to this tournament and get a win like this after this team beat us as bad as they did at their place, it's great for us and I'm real proud of our team."

Despite playing without junior Jessica Graham, who started 11 of Idaho's first 12 games of the season, and going without sophomore Alyssa Charlston for the vast majority of the first half after she picked up her second personal foul just 1:29 into the game, the Vandals (5-8) played their best half of basketball of the season, according to Newlee, as they built a 36-18 halftime lead.

"That hasn't happened to her, those two quick fouls," Newlee said of Charlston. "That wasn't good. But I was really happy the way the bench came in and really picked up the slack, and really filled in and did a great job."

Idaho shot 48 percent from the field and hit five 3-pointers before the break, while holding North Dakota (6-7) to 6-of-28 shooting and forcing the Fighting Sioux into 11 turnovers, which led to 13 of Idaho's 36 first-half points. Senior Ganeaya Rogers capped the half with a conventional 3-point play with 0.5 seconds to go as she drove the lane as the half wound down,  converted a layup despite contact, then added the free throw.

"That was our best half of the year, by far," Newlee said. "Defensively and offensively it was by far our best half. But I told these guys right now, we've got to play 40 minutes. We were up 18 and we almost let it slip away, that would have been a huge disappointment."

After Charlston made an open layup just three seconds into the second half to put Idaho up by 20, the Vandals began to run into trouble. Idaho missed its next 11 shots while the Fighting Sioux went on a 13-0 run to cut Idaho's lead to just seven with 14 minutes to play.

Idaho's lead hovered between six and nine points for the next eight-plus minutes, but the Fighting Sioux continued to chip away as the half wore down.

"I felt like we didn't rebound as well (in the second half)," Newlee said. "And on the other end we didn't finish at the hoop like we did in the first half. I felt like we got there, but we missed point-blank shots. And that'd deflating when you miss point-blank shots, and then have to continuously play defense after you've gotten to the rim."

North Dakota cut Idaho's lead all the way down to two points at 50-48 with a minute remaining. Charlston drained a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left to put Idaho back up by four, but UND again made it a one-possession game with a jumper that made it 52-50 with 31 seconds to play. Idaho senior Keri Arendse hit one of two free throws on the other end, giving the Fighting Sioux a chance to force overtime on the game's final possession. But UND couldn't find an open shooter, and Nicole Smart's drive through the lane in the game's final seconds came up empty, giving Idaho its third win in its last five games.

Idaho shot 32.1 percent from the field for the game, connecting on 18-of-56 shots including 6-of-19 3-pointers. The Vandals hit just 1-of-10 3's in the second half after going 5-for-9 in the first. Idaho gave up a 54-35 rebounding advantage to the Fighting Sioux, which led to a 15-5 second-chance point edge for UND. Idaho, however, countered with a 15-5 edge of its own in points off turnovers, and committed just 11 turnovers in the game. The Vandals held UND to 28.1 percent shooting for the game and just 14.3 (2-of-14) from 3-point range.

Rogers finished with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, and added three rebounds. Adrie Shiels started in the place of Graham and finished with eight points, six rebounds, three blocks and two assists, and made her first 3-pointer of the season. Stacey Barr connected on 4-of-8 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and five boards for Idaho. Arendse chipped in with six rebounds and five assists and Charlston finished with six points and six rebounds.

The Vandals will wrap up the tournament Friday when they face Southern Miss at 4 p.m. (Pacific). Fans can watch a free web stream of the game at http://b2tv.com/upcoming_events.asp?q=v&value=bigsky and follow live stats at www.gogriz.com.